That's right, folks: after just passing in the House by a slim margin on Friday, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) will be discussed in the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works this Tuesday, July 7. While I won't be able to attend myself, I encourage everyone who can to go to this hearing. It's at 10 a.m. in the Dirksen Senate building, room 406.
The witness list for the hearing is pretty typical, although there are two interesting additions: John Fetterman, the mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania, and Haley Barbour, the Republican governor of Mississippi. Fetterman's career as mayor began four years before his election, when he moved to Braddock while working for AmeriCorps. He has been a significant force for development in the area, providing low-rent housing, youth educational opportunities, and community art exhibitions, helping revitalize the town in the face of a declining population and a global recession. He is also a proponent of developing green energy as a means to revitalize the region's economy.
Haley Barbour, the newly appointed chair of the Republican Governors Association in the wake of the Sanford scandal, is certainly not one you would expect to support climate legislation. But despite his dubious record, there are indications that he will bring a reasoned perspective to the debate, unlike that of many extreme conservative pundits. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Governor Barbour promoted New Urbanist principles to the communities faced with the task of reconstruction, saying "the goal is to build the coast back like it can be, rather than simply like it was".
The other witnesses include Steven Chu, secretary of the Department of Energy; Lisa Jackson, administrator of the EPA; Tom Vilsack, secretary of the Department of Agriculture; and representatives from Dow Chemical Company and the Natural Resources Defense Council. For more information, go here.
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